“I haven’t been drinking. Did my memories get mixed up?”
“They did not, Miss Delia. Sir Queen is merely showing off. It seems his desire to perform has returned.”
Robin appeared to have seen through the truth, while Queen began his one-man show.
“Hey, hey, hey! What kind of reactions are those? I’m a great pirate with a bounty of 3.5 billion Berry, Queen the Plague!
As one of the first All-Stars of the Beasts Pirates, you should be screaming for help in a panic and running away as fast as you can. Otherwise, this hunt is going to be pretty boring.
“Instead of worrying about your companions, you should be thinking about whether you can survive!”
Apoo was not here, so no one was available to play along with Queen’s routine. Along the way, Queen had already discovered Robin’s devious nature, while Delia was someone even King found exasperating. Queen therefore had no choice but to sing his own praises. Fortunately, someone still cooperated with him.
“3….3.5 billion?!”
“Excellent. I like that expression. When I attack you, I can go a little easier.
It’s decided. You’re next.”
Seeing Usopp’s face distort with excessive panic, Queen gave a satisfied smile.
“No—don’t! I’ve got a disease that’ll kill me if I fight! If you touch me, you’ll catch it too!”
Even Franky’s metal body had been beaten into that state. Usopp could not imagine what would happen if he took a hit himself. His body trembled as he backed away, but the slingshot in his hands was already drawn taut.
“An interesting disease. That only makes me want to study it even more. If it really exists, I’ll name it after you.”
“Special Attack: Green Star—Impact Wolf!”
Queen had already vanished from Usopp’s sight. Relying on a sniper’s intuition, Usopp released his slingshot. The plant seed transformed into a gigantic wolf-shaped plant the moment it was fired, with a red ball on its nose.
Against such small fry, Queen had no intention of dodging. He simply charged straight ahead, allowing Usopp to guess his position correctly.
The instant the Impact Wolf made contact with Queen, it released a powerful shock wave.
“D-Did it work?!”
Seeing his attack land, Usopp’s face lit up with joy, but it quickly turned to despair. The hit had connected, but all it did was make the fat on Queen’s face tremble a few times.
“It worked? If I could be taken down that easily, how do you think I’ve held onto my position as a Calamity?
How did you dare come to the New World with a childish technique like that?”
Queen had his own unique method of redirecting resentment. He could not afford to provoke the monsters and people with connections in his own crew, but surely he could bully outsiders.
At this moment, he transferred all that resentment onto Usopp and the others. However, the other members of the Straw Hats had also realized something.
“Three Sword Style: Purgatory Oni Giri!”
“Raw Heat Strike!”
From left and right, Zoro and Sanji attacked simultaneously. Despite bickering every day, their coordination remained seamless. Both of Sanji’s feet slammed into Queen’s left arm, while Zoro’s blades cut toward his right arm. Usopp drew back his slingshot and fired another Green Star.
“Special Attack: Green Star—Exploding Pine Cones!”
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Usopp’s pinecones triggered a chain of explosions. The force infused into Sanji’s kicks detonated at the same time, while Zoro completed his slash. Yet as Zoro stared at the figure within the smoke, there was not the slightest trace of relief in his eyes.
“That didn’t even itch. Is that all you’ve got? Show me something stronger! Long Nose, this is how plants are supposed to be used.”
It was also a seed, but the one that appeared in Queen’s hand was larger than Usopp’s head. Accompanied by an even fiercer series of explosions, Usopp was blasted away.
“He actually didn’t die. He still looks pretty lively. Boss Queen held back.”
Usopp traced a not-so-graceful semicircle through the air before crashing down in front of Delia and Robin. Looking at the slightly twisted humanoid creature, Delia picked up her sword sheath and poked Usopp’s face.
Although she was not an orthodox swordsman, Delia’s skill was far beyond that of swordsmen who had just reached the level of a swordmaster. She could now even trigger the “A beautiful woman swordsman just brought some meat” buff, but unfortunately, no one had noticed this. [TN: One Piece Episode 353. Usopp yells this to awaken Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji whose shadows had been stolen by Gecko Moria.]
“The objective is to capture them alive, after all. Mr. Kaido is currently interested in their captain. Sir Queen may enjoy courting death, but he usually knows where to draw the line.”
“D-Don’t underestimate me! I’m the great Usopp, captain of 8,000 men! Tell that guy to stop right now, or I won’t show any mercy!”
Queen had already left a terrifying impression on Usopp, but his companions were still fighting. Usopp forcibly suppressed his fear and aimed his slingshot at Robin and Delia, apparently intending to take hostages.
“I’m being underestimated. I may not be as famous as Boss Queen, but you seriously don’t know who I am?”
Delia was somewhat embarrassed by the ignorance of the man before her, but Robin had already responded.
“You said you have eight thousand men?”
“T-That’s right! Scared now, aren’t you? They’re not far away, just outside—”
“Eight thousand, then… Ocho Fleur: Slap.”
Smack! Smack! Smack!
Eight arms sprouted around Usopp, locking him in place while the remaining hands began slapping him. Judging from Robin’s faint smile, she seemed intent on delivering all eight thousand slaps before stopping.
Holding back was one thing, but the revenge of a devious schemer was not so easy to endure.
“Okama Kenpo: Memoirs of a Winter Sky!”
Bon Kurei’s legs kicked so quickly that they left afterimages, a blizzard of fierce kicks raining down toward Queen’s waist. At the same time, a large shadow appeared above Queen.
“Rumble Ball: Monster Point!”
Having entered his giant beast form through the Rumble Ball, Chopper had already taken aim at Queen below. He brought both hands together into a semicircle and smashed them down with all his strength.
“Cloven Rose Blizzard!”
Chopper’s hands hammered downward again and again. Even the solid rocks outside Udon trembled beneath his heavy blows.
“Hurry! With this much commotion, we’ll probably be discovered soon!”
Chopper urged the others to act quickly as he continued striking. Queen could be said to be the most terrifying opponent they had encountered since the two-year separation. The helplessness they had felt against Kizaru at Sabaody Archipelago once again surfaced in their hearts.
“Thunderbolt Tempo!”
“Three-Pace Hum: Notch Slash!”
Bubbles inside the Clima-Tact in Nami’s hand continuously rose upward, coalescing into a massive thundercloud. Thick bolts of lightning struck down toward Queen, while Brook also completed his quick draw slash with a sweep of his blade.
“Diable Jambe: Party Table Kick Course!”
Flames ignited around Sanji’s legs as he unleashed a rapid series of spinning kicks at Queen’s head. Zoro, however, did not attack. While observing the situation, he noticed something extremely unusual.
Delia was still chatting and laughing off to the side, showing no concern whatsoever. Her abnormal reaction had already made him realise something.
“Muhahaha! Don’t worry. If I needed to call for help just to deal with the few of you, I wouldn’t need anyone else to kill me, I’d simply take my own life.
Still, you’re a little more entertaining than I expected, so I’ll let you experience the power of the New World.”
Queen’s voice remained full of confidence. Chopper also discovered that he could no longer bring his fists down. A strange, tremendous force was pushing up from beneath his fists.
“This is bad! Hurry…ah!”
Before Chopper could finish speaking, Queen hurled his gigantic body away. A single shoulder throw not only interrupted Chopper’s assault, but nearly smashed Brook into pieces as well.
The wings formed from leaves flapped behind Queen as he entered his Human-Beast form.
“A Devil Fruit user?! How is that possible? All those attacks only forced him to transform?! Then just now…”
“That’s right. I was merely playing with you.”
Boom!
Queen’s tail shot out from behind him, and its powerful mechanical claw sent Bon Kurei flying as well.
“Today’s weather forecast didn’t call for rain. It’s not good to mess with our weather whenever you please.”
A surge of power shot from Queen’s back into the sky. The thundercloud Nami had struggled to gather instantly dispersed, and intense sunlight once again poured over the land of Wano Country.
“Hey, Curly Brow. We’re in serious trouble.”
Zoro drew a deep breath, then continued, “I heard Chopper and the others talking about it while they were messing around. That combat suit and mecha of yours are Germa’s Stealth Black, right?
“Use them. Without invisibility, I can’t think of any other way to get everyone out of here.”
“Yeah… What about you?”
“Me? Do you really think this guy will let us leave if no one stays behind?”
Zoro clenched his sword between his teeth, then began composing his “verse.”
Sanji understood what Zoro meant. Although he hated Germa’s creations and had never used them even after Judge gave them to him, he could make an exception for the sake of his companions.
Poof!
After a burst of smoke, Sanji was clad in a pitch-black combat suit. Behind him, an antelope-shaped mecha was also ready.
“Moss Head, I’m leaving it to you.”
“I know. I’ll do my best to hold this guy back. The others are in your hands.”
Sanji said nothing more and entered the mecha. As the Lineage Factor technology began to take effect, the towering mechanical antelope vanished into thin air and started rescuing the other members of the Straw Hat crew.
“You’re trying to escape right in front of me? Aren’t you looking down on me a little too much? I thought you had some kind of trump card, but it’s nothing more than Judge’s technology.
I mastered that stuff long ago, and I understand it even better than Judge does!”
“We won’t know whether we can escape until we try, will we? Luffy has always aimed to become the Pirate King. We can’t fall here either.
“The nine mountains and eight seas constitute one world! A thousand of them form a small chiliocosm! And when I gather and cube that chiliocosm, there’s nothing I can’t cut! Three Sword Style Secret Technique….. The Billion-fold World Trichiliocosm”
Zoro spun the weapons in his hands while chanting the name of the technique, which sounded almost like a “release command.”
Whoosh!
Zoro shot toward Queen like an arrow loosed from a bow. The blades in his hands carried an unstoppable momentum, but no matter how confident he was, the transparent barrier that appeared before Queen shattered all his hopes.
“Shocked? This is the power Lord Arceus bestowed upon us. Other than Lord Arceus, Boss Kaido, Miss Yamato… In any case, there’s no way you people can break it!”
Queen had originally intended to say that no one could break his absolute defence, but after counting how many people actually could, he realised there were quite a few and hastily changed his wording.
“Pirate King? Your captain has already been captured, and you still dare dream about something like that? Aside from Roger, anyone who doesn’t bear our flag will never become that so-called Pirate King!”
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